The Washington Capitals had two selections in the first round of the 2012 draft. They had the 11th pick, received from the Colorado Avalanche as part of the Semyon Varlamov deal, and the 16th pick. Entering that weekend, many general managers talked about how top-heavy the draft was with talented defensemen. In fact, eight of the top ten picks were rearguards, which allowed the Capitals to draft the best European skater in the draft, Filip Forsberg at number eleven. Five picks later, they also selected Tom Wilson, who made the team out of training camp this season.

In the fifth round, the Capitals selected their first defenseman of the day (and one of three overall), the 5’11” Connor Carrick, out of the United States National Team Development Program. 46 defensemen were selected before Carrick was snatched up at pick 137. A lot of people had never heard of him at that point.

The Winnipeg Jets’ Jacob Trouba, selected 9th overall, made his NHL debut on Tuesday, October 1st as well, but because of the time difference, the Jets didn’t drop the puck that night until 9:07 PM EST. Carrick took the ice with the Capitals at 8:28 PM EST– after a lengthy delay for the Chicago Blackhawks to celebrate their Stanley Cup-winning 2012-13 season.

How big of an accomplishment is this? Below are photos of all the defensemen picked before Carrick on June 22nd and 23rd of 2012. Give yourself approximately 10 minutes to scroll through this list. How many of these guys will never play an NHL game? How many of these guys will be in the NHL five years from now? Hint: Not many.

Just consider that Seth Jones, the number four overall pick of the 2013 draft, was the first defenseman selected and the first dman to make his NHL debut from that class. That’s how it’s supposed to work.